PARK RIDGE, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference announced today that Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis has been chosen as the proposed site for the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game to be played in December of 2011.

The conference office will begin a 30-day period to negotiate a one-year agreement with Indiana Sports Corp and Lucas Oil Stadium to host the game.

"We are excited to work with Indiana Sports Corp and Lucas Oil Stadium to finalize an agreement to hold the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game in the city of Indianapolis," Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany said. "We felt at this time it was important to identify a site for the first championship game and then spend more time with other cities and venues with respect to both our basketball tournaments and the football championship games in the future. The city of Indianapolis has been an outstanding host for our basketball tournaments, and we look forward to holding our first Big Ten Football Championship Game in Lucas Oil Stadium."

Once the 2011 agreement is in place, the conference office will conduct a thorough process over the next year to determine the location of the Big Ten Football Championship Game in 2012 and beyond.

"Lucas Oil Stadium is a state-of-the-art facility centrally located in the heart of Big Ten country," Purdue athletics director Morgan Burke said. "It is going to host the 2012 Super Bowl and is a proven entity in the athletics world. The facility is a tremendous place to host the initial Big Ten Football Championship Game and will help promote and gain positive exposure for the event."

Said Purdue head coach Danny Hope: "Having the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium is very exciting for Purdue. Being so close to home for the first-ever conference title game is a great thing for our team, Boilermaker Nation and really for all of football in the state of Indiana."